For the fourth consecutive year, Billboard has named the Kogod School of Business' Business & Entertainment (BAE) program to its list of Top Music Business Schools. The list recognizes programs that prepare students for the business side of music, from publishing and streaming to live events, touring, and artist management.
"I'm so proud of this one," said Casey Evans, interim dean of the Kogod School of Business. "Four years in a row on Billboard's list tells me our Business & Entertainment program is doing something right. For our students, that means walking into an industry that already knows what a Kogod graduate can do."
Professor John Simson, former CEO of SoundExchange and a longtime entertainment lawyer, founded the program in 2013. Thirteen years later, it still runs on his premise: the best preparation for an industry built on decisions is to start making them in school. Students in the "Representing Talent" course run the annual Veloric Concert, which has brought performers like Flo Rida, Flo Milli, and Tinashe to campus for thousands of fans. They make every call, from booking the talent and managing the budget to marketing the show and running it on the day, while faculty stay close enough to guide and far enough back that the decisions are theirs.
On treks to Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and, new this year, Nashville, they visit labels, studios, streaming platforms, venues, agencies, and business managers to see a day in the life up close. And this year, BAE added a sports management concentration, extending the same model to one of the fastest-growing corners of the entertainment economy.
"Four years on Billboard's list is something to celebrate," said Linda Bloss-Baum, director of the Business & Entertainment program. "What means even more is hearing from our alumni, who are shaping this industry right now at studios, agencies, streamers, and labels. They're the proof. Our job is to make sure the next class shows up just as ready."
Being in Washington puts Kogod at the center of how the music business is changing, because the rules for how music gets paid are written here. On September 17, Kogod convened the people who write them at its inaugural Digital Rights Summit, sponsored by BMI, The MLC, RIAA, and SoundExchange. Leaders from government, industry, and technology worked through how generative AI, streaming, and sports media are changing licensing, attribution, and what creators get paid. The summit builds on Kogod's leadership in AI.
Nearly every Kogod course has been rebuilt with AI embedded, alongside the human judgment AI can't replace: knowing which questions to ask, weighing what's at stake, and owning the call. Poets&Quants named Kogod best in class for AI, and Bloomberg Businessweek called it the first AI-first business school.
Billboard's Top Music Business Schools list is unranked and informed by industry recommendations, alumni success, faculty credentials, and information provided by schools, combined with research by Billboard staff.
Kogod's BS in Business and Entertainment provides a solid foundation across business disciplines—accounting, finance, management, marketing, operations management, information technology, and business strategy—as it relates to the entertainment industry. From music and film to sports and TV, Business and Entertainment students learn about all aspects of the entertainment industry and go on to careers at employers like Netflix, Creative Artists Agency, Warner Bros., and more.